Bloodlines and brute force

In one lightning-quick move, Ian Seau showed why the Nevada football team wanted him. He showed off his bloodlines.

The Wolf Pack had opened its game against UC Davis at Mackay Stadium on Saturday night by picking off an Aggies pass and then scoring a touchdown three plays later, 61 seconds into the game. Nevada had quickly snatched the momentum.

Three plays after the touchdown, facing a third-and-11, the Aggies’ Manusamoa Luugu broke off a 46-yard run on a draw play to the Nevada 30-yard line. UC Davis was in position to steal the momentum right back.

But on the next play, the 6-foot-2, 227-pound Seau, a sophomore defensive end who played at Grossmont College in El Cajon, Calif., last season, looked more like a 5-9, 160-pound receiver when he faked a move to the inside, got the left tackle off balance and then bolted into the backfield where he read a receiver sweep perfectly and tackled Alex Cannon for a 12-yard loss.

The Aggies punted, the Wolf Pack scored on its next possession, and the game was never really in doubt afterward as Nevada rolled to a 36-7 victory.

Seau, a second-team end whom coach Brian Polian said had a so-so debut against UCLA a week prior, had 2 1/2 of the Wolf Pack’s six tackles for loss and also forced a fumble.

“He’s going to get increased reps because he’s proven from week one to week two that he’s made a significant leap,” said Polian, who has more depth at defensive end than probably any other position. “He got some pressure on the quarterback, made a great tackle for loss. So, he’s earned more playing time and he’ll get it.”

That’s certainly music to Seau’s ears. Like any competitor he wants to play. But he is also on a constant quest to find the great balance between playing too much or perhaps too hard and still giving his all to the game he loves.

Junior Seau was Ian’s uncle as well as being one of the NFL’s most dominant and ferocious middle linebackers of the past quarter century.

Junior Seau played 20 seasons in the NFL, mostly for the San Diego Chargers. That was after four seasons at USC and more football at Oceanside High. He played with reckless abandon.

“As a kid I remember going to a couple of (Charger) games,” Ian, 20, said at practice this week. “I have tapes of him. When I watch him it’s like, this dude, he’s real. …

“A lot of people think of him as a football player. I think of him as a guy I could just kick it with. He liked to go to the beach, liked to surf. We’d have barbecues at his house. That’s what I think of when I think of him.”

Junior Seau committed suicide in May 2012, eight months before Ian signed his Letter of Intent to play for Nevada. Junior was 43. Tests of his brain later revealed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the illness often caused by multiple concussions — the illness that has led to a rash of suicides by former NFL players in recent years.

Like other ex-NFL players who have committed suicide, Junior Seau shot himself in the chest, an act, perhaps, to preserve his brain for testing.

Ian isn’t at risk of CTE because he’s a Seau. He’s at risk because he plays. Being the nephew of Junior Seau only intensifies the conundrum.

“Yeah, I think about it,” said Ian, who began his college career at Kansas State but felt homesick and transferred after he redshirted his freshman year. “I talked to my family. After the whole situation (with Junior’s suicide), I wanted to play. My family said, ‘If that’s what you want to do, let’s do it.’ I wanted to see what I can do. He played a long time. He threw his body around. He was a great player.”

A perfect fit

Ian, who had 19 sacks at Grossmont last season, was set to attend his hometown school, San Diego State, when former Wolf Pack assistant Ken Wilson, now at Washington State, began recruiting him for Nevada. Wilson maintained contact with Ian during the coaching transition here, and Polian picked it up when he was hired in January.

“Kenny Wilson did an unbelievable job of recruiting him,” Polian said. “All I had to do was come in and assure him that everything was going to be OK, and even though there was a coaching change we still wanted him and we had a plan for him.”

Nevada proved to be a perfect fit. Kansas State was too far away. San Diego State, when your name is Seau and just months after your famous uncle’s suicide, was too close.

“Polian was talking to me, (saying), ‘Your whole name would surround you at San Diego State,’” said Ian, whose mom, Mary, is Junior’s older sister. “It was nice to talk with him because he told me, ‘I’m not taking you as a Seau. I’m taking you as a person.’ I’m not the type of guy to throw my name around. I don’t want people to judge me based on my name.”

Polian also bonded with Ian from a familial standpoint, sharing his thoughts on knowing what it’s like to grow up with a famous name.

“The other thing I talked about was, I understand what it’s like to grow up with a famous last name and the kind of pressure that that comes with and the kind of expectations that that comes with and how you are held to a different standard whether you like it or not,” said Polian, whose father, Bill Polian, was an NFL general manager who built the Buffalo Bills into a four-time Super Bowl team in the early 1990s. “And I think he and I had a little common ground when it came to that.”

Inherent risk

Ian, who is studying communication at Nevada and wants to become a coach, continues to play, as do thousands of college players, knowing there’s always a risk. The NFL recently settled a multimillion dollar lawsuit by former players related to head injuries. A few former college players recently filed a similar lawsuit against the NCAA.

“As a whole, there’s inherent risk in the game, and anyone who plays the game knows that,” said Polian, who was a linebacker at John Carroll University in Ohio. “… We talked a little bit about it in the recruiting process because when you made a home visit with Ian you made a home visit with the whole family, which was fine. Junior’s dad was there. I didn’t speak about the trouble that Junior had gone through. I mean, who am I to speak about that. No one knows what he was feeling and what was going through his head. I certainly talked about the respect I had for him as a man and a football player.”

The risk is indeed inherent and potentially devastating. But for so many it’s still not enough to stop them from chasing their dreams.

“A lot of people who play college football want to play at the next level,” Ian said. “My hope and dream is to go out and do it.”

WOLF PACK FOOTBALL

WHO: Nevada (1-1) vs. No. 10 Florida State (1-0)

WHERE: Doak Campbell Stadium (capacity, 82,300)

WHEN: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

TV/RADIO: ESPN/94.5 FM (11 a.m. pregame)

BETTING LINE: Florida State by 33 1/2; total, 65 1/2

TICKETS: $15, $30, Seminoles.com

ALL-TIME SERIES: First meeting

THE FILE ON IAN SEAU

POSITION: Defensive end

HEIGHT, WEIGHT: 6-2, 227

BIRTHDATE: Dec. 4, 1992

HOMETOWN: Oceanside, Calif.

PREVIOUS SCHOOL: Grossmont College, El Cajon, Calif.

ETCETERA: Named defensive player of the year in the Avacado League while attending La Costa Canyon High in Carlsbad, Calif. … Named to second-team All-CIF as a junior. … Was listed as the No. 3 defensive end prospect in California by CaliHigh Sports. … Had 89 tackles, 18 sacks and four blocked kicks as a varsity player. … Redshirted at Kansas State in 2011 before transferring to Grossmont College. … Led all California junior colleges with 19 sacks last season. … Son of Mary Seau. … Nephew of former San Diego Charger great Junior Seau.

About this blog

Longtime RGJ Media reporter Dan Hinxman is the authority on Wolf Pack athletics, bringing you the day-to-day coverage of Nevada’s sports teams. Dan has covered almost everything the Northern Nevada sports scene has to offer and will use his knowledge to bring you authoritative and engaging Wolf Pack content. Follow him on Twitter at @DanHinxmanRGJ.